One 77-year-old’s search for the truth: 9/11, election fraud, illegal wars, Wall Street criminality, a stolen nuke, the neocon wars, control of the U.S. government by global corporations, the unjustified assault on Social Security, media complicity, and the "Great Recession" about to become the second Great Depression. "The most important truths are hidden from us by the powerful few who strive to steal the American dream by keeping We the People in the dark."

War Is ComingPaul Craig RobertsThe extraordinary propaganda being conducted against Russia by the US
and UK governments and Ministries of Propaganda, a.k.a., the “Western
media,” have the purpose of driving the world to war that no one can
win. European governments need to rouse themselves from insouciance,
because Europe will be the first to be vaporized due to the US missile
bases that Europe hosts to guarantee its “security.”As reported by Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge, the Russian
response to the extra-legal ruling of a corrupt court in the
Netherlands, which had no jurisdiction over the case on which it ruled,
awarding $50 billion dollars from the Russian government to shareholders
of Yukos, a corrupt entity that was looting Russia and evading taxes,
is telling. Asked what Russia would do about the ruling, an advisor to
President Putin replied, “There is a war coming in Europe.” Do you
really think this ruling matters?”The West has ganged up on Russia, because the West is totally
corrupt. The wealth of the elites is based not only on looting weaker
countries whose leaders can be purchased (read John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
for instruction on how the looting works), but also on looting their
own citizens. The American elites excel at looting their fellow citizens
and have wiped out most of the US middle class in the new 21st century.In contrast, Russia has emerged from tyranny and from a government
based on lies, while the US and UK submerge into tyranny shielded by
lies. Western elites desire to loot Russia, a juicy prize, and there
stands Putin in the way. The solution is to get rid of him like they
got rid of President Yanukovich in Ukraine. The looting elites and the neoconservative hegemonists have the same
goal: make Russia a vassal state. This goal unites the Western
financial imperialists with the political imperialists. I have recorded for readers the propaganda that is used in order to
demonize Putin and Russia. But even I was stunned by the astounding and
vicious lies in the UK publication The Economist on July 26. The cover is Putin’s face in a spider web, and, you guessed it, the cover story is “A Web of Lies.” http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21608645-vladimir-putins-epic-deceits-have-grave-consequences-his-people-and-outside-world-web?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709You need to read this propaganda both in order to see the gutter
level of propaganda in the West and the obvious drive to war with
Russia. There is no evidence whatsoever in the story to support The
Economist’s wild accusations and demand for the end of Western
“appeasement” of Russia and the harshest possible action against Putin. The kind of reckless lies and transparent propaganda that comprises
The Economist’s story has no other purpose than to drive the world to
war.The Western elites and governments are not merely totally corrupt,
they are insane. As I have previously written, don’t expect to live
much longer. In this video one of Putin’s advisors and Russian
journalists speak openly of US plans for a first strike on Russia:http://financearmageddon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/official-warning-u-s-to-hit-russia-with.html

Blogger's Note: I provide below the video linked to just above. Everyone should play this video!

Despite Growing International Condemnation, No End to Gaza Violence in Sight As the death toll in Gaza passes 1,000Lia Tarachansky and Phyllis Bennis respond to a poll which found 86% of Israelis reject a ceasefire, while a growing number of Americans want the Israeli offensive to stop - July 28, 2014

Lia Tarachansky
is an Israeli-Russian journalist with The Real News Network reporting
on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Born in the Soviet
Union, Tarachansky grew up in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.
She is the director of On the Side of the Road,
a documentary on Israel's biggest taboo - the events of 1948 when the
state was created. Tarachansky previously worked as a Newsroom Producer
in The Real News' Washington D.C. and Toronto Headquarters, and her work
appeared on BBC, Al Jazeera, USA Today, Canadian Dimension Magazine and others.

Phyllis Bennis
is a Fellow and the Director of the New Internationalism Project at the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. She is the author of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer, Before and After: US Foreign Policy and the September 11 Crisis , Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer and Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer.

The World Is Doomed By Western Insouciancedon’t expect to live much longerPaul Craig RobertsEuropean governments and the Western media have put the world at risk
by enabling Washington’s propaganda and aggression against Russia. Washington has succeeded in using transparent lies to demonize Russia
as a dangerous aggressive country led by a new Hitler or a new Stalin,
just as Washington succeeded in demonizing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the
Taliban in Afghanistan, Qaddafi in Libya, Assad in Syria, Chavez in
Venezuela, and, of course, Iran. The real demons–Clinton, Bush, Obama–are “the exceptional and
indispensable people” above the reach of demonization. Their horrific
real crimes go unnoticed, while fictitious crimes are attributed to the
unexceptional and dispensable people and countries.The reason that Washington demonizes a leader and a country is to
permit the creation of circumstances that Washington can use to act with
force against a leader and a country.Washington’s incessant lies alleging “Russian aggression” have
created Russian aggression out of thin air. John Kerry and the State
Department’s Marie Harf issue new lies daily, but never any supporting
evidence. With the stage set, the US Senate, the NATO commander and the
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff are busy at work energizing
the wheels of war.Senate bill 2277 provides for beefing up forces on Russia’s borders
and for elevating Ukraine’s status to “ally of the US” so that US troops
can assist the war against “terrorists” in Ukraine. http://un.ua/eng/article/522930.html See also: http://www.globalresearch.ca/collapse-of-ukraine-government-prime-minister-yatsenyuk-resigns-amidst-pressures-exerted-by-the-imf/5393168NATO commander Breedlove is preparing his plans for stockpiling war
material on Russia’s borders so that US/NATO troops can more quickly
strike Russia. http://rt.com/news/175292-nato-poland-supply-base/ Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, is at work preparing American opinion for the upcoming war. On July 24 Dempsey told the Aspen Security Forum, a high level group
where US opinion is formed, that Putin’s aggression in Ukraine is
comparable to Stalin’s invasion of Poland in 1939 and that the Russian
threat was not limited to Ukraine or Eastern Europe but was global. http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/07/25/gen-dempsey-were-pulling-out-our-cold-war-military-plans-over-ukraineThe intellects in the Aspen Forum did not break out laughing when
Dempsey told them that Russia’s (alleged but unproven) involvement in
Ukraine was the first time since 1939 that a country made a conscious
decision to use its military force inside another sovereign nation to
achieve its objectives. No one asked Dempsey what Washington has been
doing during the last three presidential regimes: Clinton in Serbia,
Bush and Obama in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen, Obama
in Libya and Syria.Here are Dempsey’s words: “You’ve got a Russian government that has
made a conscious decision to use its military force inside another
sovereign nation to achieve its objectives. It’s the first time since
1939 or so that that’s been the case. They clearly are on a path to
assert themselves differently not just in Eastern Europe, but Europe in
the main, and towards the United States.” Washington’s view that the world is its oyster is so ingrained that
neither Dempsey nor his upper echelon audience at the Aspen Forum
noticed the absurdity of his statement. Washington and the
brainwashed US population take for granted that the “exceptional,
indispensable nation” is not limited in its actions by the sovereignty
of other countries. Washington takes for granted that US law prevails in other countries
over the countries’ own laws–just ask France or Switzerland, that
Washington can tell foreign financial institutions and corporations with
whom they can do business and with whom they cannot–just ask every
country and company prevented from doing business with Iran, that
Washington can invade any country whose leader Washington can demonize
and overthrow–just ask Iraq, Honduras, Libya, Serbia, and so forth, and
that Washington can conduct military operations against peoples in
foreign countries, such as Pakistan and Yemen, with which Washington is
not at war.All of this is possible, because Washington has claimed the title
from Israel of being “God’s Chosen People.” Of course, Israel’s loss of
the title has not stopped Israel from acting the same way.Washington now has in motion the wheels of war. Once the wheels of
war begin to turn, momentum carries them forward. The foolish, indeed
utterly stupid, governments and media in Europe seem unaware of
Washington’s orchestration of their future or lack thereof, or they are
indifferent to it. They are dooming themselves and all of humanity by
their insouciance. Heaven help if the British PM or French president or
German chancellor were not invited to the White House or the Polish
nonentity did not get his Washington stipend.Readers who cannot tolerate problems without solutions always request solutions. OK, here is the solution: The only possibility of avoiding war is that Putin take his case to the UN. If Washington can send Colin Powell to the UN unarmed with any truth
to make Washington’s case for war against Iraq, Putin should be able to
take his case to the UN against Washington’s war against Russia.The case that the emperor has no clothes is an easy one to make. Unlike Washington, Putin is willing to share the evidence that Russia
has about who is doing what in Ukraine. It is a simple matter to
establish that Washington organized a coup that overthrew an elected
government, supports violence against those who object to the coup, and
has turned a deaf ear to Russia’s repeated pleas for Kiev and the
separatists to negotiate their differences. Putin should make it clear to the world that Washington continues
with provocative military steps against Russia, with force buildups on
Russia’s borders and calls for more buildups, with S.2277 which reads
like a US preparation for war, with provocative actions and accusations
by top US generals and government officials against Russia, and with
efforts to isolate Russia and to inflict economic and political injury
on Russia. Putin should make it clear to the world that there is a limit to the
provocations that Russia can accept and that Russia believes that Russia
is in danger of preemptive nuclear attack by Washington. Putin can
describe Washington’s withdrawal from the ABM treaty, the construction
of ABM bases on Russia’s borders, and the announced change in
Washington’s war doctrine that elevates US nuclear forces from a
retaliatory role to a preemptive first strike role. These actions are
clearly directed at Russia (and China–wake up China! You are next!). Putin must state clearly that the likely consequence of the world
continuing to enable Washington’s lies and aggression will be not merely
another disastrous war but the termination of life. The governments of the world, especially Washington’s vassals in
Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan, need to be told that it is their
responsibility to stop their enabling of Washington’s aggression or to
accept their responsibility for World War III.At least we could all have the enjoyment of watching the arrogant
Samantha Powers and the craven British lapdog rise and walk out of the
UN proceedings. There is no doubt whatsoever that Washington is unable
to answer the charges.Here again is the Wolfowitz Doctrine that controls US foreign policy and that condemns Planet Earth to death:“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival,
either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that
posses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union.
This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense
strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from
dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control,
be sufficient to generate global power.” A hostile power is defined as any country that is not a Washington vassal.The Wolfowitz Doctrine commits the United States, its peoples,
Washington’s gullible EU allies and those peoples to war with Russia and
China. Unless Russia and China surrender, the world will be destroyed.The destruction of the world is what the idiot EU governments and the
presstitute Western media are fostering by their enablement of
Washington’s lies and aggression.

Stop Use of Grads in Populated Areas

(Donetsk) – Unguided Grad rockets launched apparently by Ukrainian
government forces and pro-government militias have killed at least 16
civilians and wounded many more in insurgent-controlled areas of Donetsk
and its suburbs in at least four attacks between July 12 and 21, 2014,
Human Rights Watch said today.The use of indiscriminate rockets in populated areas violates
international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and may amount to
war crimes.

Grads are unguided rockets that cannot be targeted accurately, and are
often fired in salvos from multi-barrel rocket launchers to saturate a
wide area. Human Rights Watch called on all parties to the conflict in
eastern Ukraine, particularly Ukrainian government forces, to stop using
Grad rockets in or near populated areas because of the likelihood of
killing and wounding civilians. Insurgent forces should minimize the
risk to civilians under their control by avoiding deploying forces and
weapons in densely populated areas.

“Grad rockets are notoriously imprecise weapons that shouldn’t be used in populated areas,” said Ole Solvang,
senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If insurgent and
Ukrainian government forces are serious about limiting harm to
civilians, they should both immediately stop using these weapons in
populated areas.”

Anti-Kiev insurgent forces started asserting control over Donetsk, a
city in eastern Ukraine with a population of almost one million, in
April. Because of security concerns, Human Rights Watch was unable to
determine first-hand the impact of the Grad attacks on insurgent forces
and installations.Both Ukrainian government and insurgent forces have recently used Grad
rockets. Although Ukrainian government officials and the press service
of the National Guard have denied using Grad rockets in Donetsk, a Human
Rights Watch investigation on the ground strongly indicates that
Ukrainian government forces were responsible for the attacks that
occurred between July 12 and 21.The four attacks took place close to the front line between insurgent
and government forces. Impact craters on the ground and on buildings
investigated by Human Rights Watch were characteristic of rocket
attacks, not shelling. In all four cases, the angle and shape of the
craters, and the fact that they were on the side of buildings facing the
front line, strongly suggests that the rockets came from the direction
of Ukrainian government forces or pro-Kiev armed groups. The attacks’
proximity to the front line also makes it unlikely, and in some cases
impossible, that insurgent forces were responsible for the attacks. In
two of the attacks, rockets hit on or near insurgent bases and
checkpoints at the same time as they hit residential areas, indicating
government forces were responsible.In the July 21 attack, three civilians died when Grad rockets hit a
residential area near the Donetsk train station. Ongoing fighting made
it difficult for Human Rights Watch to determine whether there were
additional casualties, but what could be identified as Grad rockets by
their distinctive sound could be heard throughout the day. On July 19, at least five rockets struck a residential area in the
Kuibyshivskyi district in western Donetsk, injuring at least four
civilians.Human Rights Watch documented multiple rocket impacts on July 12 on a
residential area in the Petrovskyi district on the western outskirts of
Donetsk that killed at least seven civilians.Also on July 12, multiple rockets struck a residential area in Maryinka,
a village just outside of Donetsk, close to the Petrovskyi district,
killing at least six civilians.Human Rights Watch was able to identify the rockets fired as unguided
122-millimeter surface-to-surface Grad artillery rockets launched from
multi-barrel rocket launchers with up to 40 launch tubes. Most Grad
rockets have a range of 1.5 to 20 kilometers. The rockets vary in length
from 1.9 to 3.3 meters and weigh 45 to 75 kilograms.Grad rockets use various types of warheads. The most common is a high
explosive/fragmentation type, which contains approximately 6.4 kilograms
of high explosives and is designed to produce 3,150 fragments, which
can kill or injure within a radius of 28 meters. At its maximum range of
some 20 kilometers, the most common rocket (9M22U) with the basic high
explosive/fragmentation (M-21-OF) warhead is only accurate within a
rectangle of 336 meters by 160 meters. In other words, from its aim
point, the rocket could land anywhere within a rectangle of
approximately 54,000 square meters.The fighting in eastern Ukraine is governed by the laws of war,
which apply to all parties to the conflict. Grad rockets cannot be
targeted with sufficient precision to differentiate military targets,
which may be attacked, from civilians and civilian structures, such as
homes and schools not being used for military purposes, which are immune
from attack. As such, their use in populated areas violates the
laws-of-war prohibition against indiscriminate attacks. In addition,
attacks not directed at valid military targets are also unlawfully
indiscriminate.Human Rights Watch said that insurgent forces have failed to take all
feasible precautions to avoid deploying in densely populated areas,
thereby endangering civilians in violation of the laws of war. In one
case, separatist forces moved their base closer to the center of the
town when Grad rockets struck their base and a nearby residential area.
Violations of the laws of war by one side to the conflict do not justify
violations by the other side.Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with
criminal intent, that is intentionally or recklessly, are responsible
for war crimes.“Ukrainian authorities should order all their forces, including
volunteer forces, to immediately stop using Grads in or near populated
areas, and insurgent forces should avoid deploying in densely populated
areas,” Solvang said. “Commanding officers on all sides should recognize
that one day they could face legal consequences for their actions.”Human Rights Watch called on Ukraine’s international supporters to urge
the Ukrainian government to strictly adhere to international
humanitarian law, including by ending all use of Grad rockets in
populated areas.For additional details about the attacks, please see below.Attacks Near the Train Station, July 21On July 21, Ukrainian government forces stationed on the northwest edge
of Donetsk began a military offensive against insurgent forces in the
area around and north of the train station. Because of contradictory
statements by Ukrainian authorities, it was not immediately clear
whether the offensive was conducted by government forces or pro-Kiev
volunteer forces operating on their own.Media reports
quoted a spokesman for Ukraine’s military stating that the fighting
around the train station was “a planned offensive ... to push rebels
away from the airport,” but that “[a]viation and artillery are not
aiming at civilian residences. Their only aim is to block the terrorists
and fighters.” In a separate media report, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman
for Ukraine’s National Security Council, denied that government forces were involved in any fighting, but claimed that a small self-organized group of pro-Kiev forces were fighting insurgents.Information collected by Human Rights Watch indicates that the Grad rockets killed at least three civilians during the attack.Local residents told Human Rights Watch that several rockets had struck
their neighborhood, just south of the train station, at about 10:30 a.m.
They said one of the rockets struck the courtyard of an apartment
complex, killing one woman and wounding a man. The woman did not live in
the apartment complex so the neighbors did not know her name.A Human Rights Watch visit to the site found an impact crater with blood
next to it in the middle of the courtyard. There was also blood on the
steps leading up to one of the nearby buildings. Neighbors said shrapnel
from the same rocket had injured a man there and that he then tried to
drag himself up the steps and into the building.While the area is generally under insurgent control, as is most of
Donetsk, local residents told Human Rights Watch that no insurgent
forces or weapons had been in the area at the time of the attack.Foreign journalists told Human Rights Watch that a second rocket killed
two men near a school about 100 meters away from the rocket that killed
the woman. A security expert working with the New York Times provided
Human Rights Watch with the GPS coordinates of the strike that killed
the two men and another strike in the immediate vicinity.The security expert also provided Human Rights Watch with GPS
coordinates for three impact sites, also in a residential area, located
to the northeast of the train station. There was no information about
casualties from that area.Human Rights Watch heard what appeared to be salvos of Grad rockets
being launched from multi-barrel launchers from the north of the city
throughout the day, but ongoing fighting made it difficult to establish
whether there were additional civilian casualties.Attack on Kuibyshivskyi district, July 19Human Rights Watch documented five impact sites in Pervaya Ploshchad, a
residential area of mostly three- to five-story buildings on the western
edge of Donetsk, caused by a rocket attack at about 4 p.m. on July 19.One of the rockets struck a five-story residential building at 6
Tumanyana Street. Valentina Fedorovna, 77, who lives on the ground
floor, told Human Rights Watch:

I was just about to turn on the TV when I heard a loud whistling
noise and a big bang. Then I don’t remember anything more until somebody
shouted “Is there anybody alive in here?” Then a young man came and
pulled me out. I was completely in shock.

Another resident, who was injured by a piece of shrapnel that went
through her arm and a smaller one lodged in her chest, told Human Rights
Watch:

All of a sudden I felt an explosion that pushed back so I hit my
head. I didn’t even notice that I was wounded. All the windows
shattered. People were screaming.

A Human Rights Watch examination of the site found that the rocket
had entered through the second floor of the building, continued through
the kitchen and bathroom of Valentina Fedorovna’s apartment on the
ground floor, and went farther down to the basement.” If the rocket had
hit two meters to the left it would have gone through the living room
where I was sitting instead of the kitchen,” Valentina Fedorovna said.Another rocket, which hit the courtyard about 20 meters from Valentina
Federovna’s building, wounded four people, who were taken to the
hospital. Neighbors said one woman was seriously injured by a piece of
shrapnel that lodged in her chest.A third rocket struck the playground of School 71; a fourth hit the road
outside the local church, shattering most of the windows; and a fifth
hit a single-story house that was empty at the time.Both the flight direction of the rockets and circumstances of the attack
indicate that Ukrainian government forces were responsible. The rocket
striking 6 Tumanyana Street hit its western façade. The crater in the
soft ground in the school playground also showed that the rockets came
from a western direction. At the time of the attack, the front line
between insurgent and Ukrainian government forces was several kilometers
farther west, according to local residents.Insurgent forces manning a checkpoint about three kilometers west of the
Pervaya Ploshchad area told Human Rights Watch that Grad rockets had
also hit their checkpoint and the area between the checkpoint and the
residential area in the same attack. Human Rights Watch observed
craters, marks on the asphalt, and remnants of Grad rockets near the
checkpoint and between the checkpoint and the residential area that were
consistent with this account.Attack on Petrovskyi district, July 12 At about 4 p.m. on July 12, multiple Grad rockets hit a residential area
in Petrovskyi district in the western part of Donetsk. The area that
was hit is several kilometers north of a road that demarcates the front
line between insurgent and Ukrainian government forces.Human Rights Watch examined 19 impact craters in an area about 600
meters wide. Local residents also showed Human Rights Watch remnants
from Grad rockets that they said had hit their gardens or houses.In one case, a rocket struck the house and garage at 2 Chugaeva Street, killing an entire family of two adults and two children.Liudmila, 62, was at home in Chugaeva Street when the attack happened. She told Human Rights Watch:

I was in my room when I first heard a whistling sound. The walls and
windows started to shake and then there were many loud bangs. My son was
in the kitchen. He came running when the attack started, probably
trying to save me, but a shrapnel hit him in the leg. What’s here that
they wanted to attack? There is no factory here, no fighters, just poor
houses.

Liudmila’s car was destroyed in the attack and Human Rights Watch
observed significant damage to her house. Her son was recovering.

An officer on duty in the local police station showed Human Rights Watch
the logbook from July 12 and provided Human Rights Watch with addresses
where people had died during the attack. The police had registered
seven deaths, including the four people mentioned above.Craters and marks on buildings showed that the rockets had been launched
from a location to the southeast. The likely launch area is located
south of the southern-most checkpoint manned by insurgent forces.Several of the impact craters indicated that the rockets had come from a
southern direction. Local residents said that there had been no
insurgent forces or weapons in the area before the attack.Attack on Maryinka, July 12At about 10 p.m. on July 12, multiple Grad rockets struck an area in the
southeastern part of the village of Maryinka, which consists of fields,
an industrial zone, and a residential area, clustered around a milk
factory.Maryinka has about 10,000 inhabitants and is just outside the western
edge of Donetsk, adjacent to the Petrovskyi district. It consists mainly
of three- to five-story buildings. A 25-year-old taxi driver told Human Rights Watch:

I was at home when the attack started. I ran to the basement
immediately, but the attack was over in about 40 seconds. There was no
warning. Nothing had happened here before. I only came out from the
basement when the [insurgents] came to evacuate us. Everything was
burning and there was debris everywhere. I never thought that something
like this could happen here.

The local department for housing and utilities, which documented the
effects of the strike, provided Human Rights Watch with the names of six
people who died in that attack. All of those killed were between the
ages of 45 and 60. Fifteen people were taken to the hospital, a
department employee said, most with light injuries such as concussions.Human Rights Watch documented multiple Grad rocket impacts in the
residential area. Several buildings had been hit directly, and most
buildings in the area had broken windows. According to the housing and
utilities department, at least 12 apartment buildings had direct rocket
hits. Human Rights Watch discovered remnants of Grad rockets in multiple
locations in the area that was hit, including inside destroyed
apartments.At the time of the attack, insurgent forces manned a checkpoint about
800 meters southwest of the edge of the village, and an unknown number
of insurgent forces were deployed on the opposite side of the road,
between the checkpoint and the residential area that was hit. The base
commander said that both the checkpoint and the base were struck at the
same time as the residential area and that 22 rockets landed on the
territory of his base. There were additional Grad attacks against the
same area in at least the two following days, residents and the
commander said, but most civilians evacuated immediately after the
initial attack. Following the attacks, the insurgent base relocated
closer to the center of Maryinka, the commander said.Ukrainian government forces appear responsible for the attacks. All the
rockets that had struck buildings hit walls facing southwest, indicating
that the rockets came from there. Insurgent force personnel told Human
Rights Watch that none of their troops were located farther southwest
beyond the checkpoint 800 meters from the residential part of Maryinka,
which, if true, would not have made it possible for them to have carried
out the attack. A journalist who travelled to some of the villages
southeast of Maryinka two days after the attack told Human Rights Watch
that he saw no insurgent forces in that area at that time.The journalist told Human Rights Watch that pro-Kiev forces in
non-standard uniforms in Novomikhaylivka, a village southwest of
Maryinka, had boasted to him the following day that they had a Grad
rocket system and that they were firing on insurgent forces. The
soldiers told the journalist that their aiming was accurate because they
had scouts that helped them direct the fire.A resident of Maryinka who fled to another village after the attack told
Human Rights Watch that he saw Grad rockets being launched twice from a
village farther southwest, which was under the control of Ukrainian
forces on July 13.

Global Research, July 24, 2014 Original HereUkraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
announced his resignation in the Rada (Parliament) and that of the
entire Cabinet on Thursday, July 24. This decision was taken following
the withdrawal of two parties from the coalition government and the
non-adoption of two important pieces of legislation, which had been
demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

“I announce my resignation after the collapse of the coalition and the blocking of government initiatives … “In connection with the breakup of the parliamentary coalition,
as well as non-adoption of a number of important bills, I announce my
resignation,”

The resignation of the Prime Minister signifies the collapse of the government and the resignation of the entire cabinet.

“But the cabinet members will continue fulfilling their duties until a new coalition is formed in the Rada.”

On July 24th, the Rada failed to support the government’s bill
pertaining to the 2014 budget sequestration, which had been demanded by
the IMF on behalf of Kiev’s external creditors. The disbursement by the
IMF of the “Second Tranche” of a 17 billion dollar policy based loan was
conditional upon the prior adoption of this legislation.“The parliament must adopt amendments to the state budget needed to finance our army and also documents needed for cooperation with international financial institutions.[e.g. IMF, World Bank, EBRD]” said PM Yatsenyuk. (emphasis added)The entire country is in an impasse. No money will be forthcoming
from the IMF until this legislation is adopted. In the meantime, Ukraine
remains on the blacklist of its external creditors.Moreover, a controversial draft law on reforming the country’s gas
transportation system was rejected (Itar-Tass, July 24, 2014).Both bills were tied into the government’s negotiations with both the EU and the IMF.What Happens Next?The national economy is in crisis, the political structures of the
country are in total disarray, all of which is occurring in the
immediate wake of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 crash in Eastern Ukraine.The two parties which left the coalition are The Neo-Nazi Svoboda
party and the Centre Right Ukraine Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR)
Party led by former champion boxer Vitali Klitschko.

President Poroshenko (left) has intimated that the resignation of the
cabinet has paved the way for a process of meaningful political
restructuring: “Society wants a full reset of state authorities,” said
Mr Poroshenko.

What is implied by Poroshenko’s statement is that the parliamentary process is slated to become defunct inasmuch as Rada is obligated to adopt the legislation demanded by the IMF and the European Union.
And if the Rada does not adopt the legislation, the composition of the
Parliament will be changed through a process of outright political
manipulation.

The 2014 budget project demanded by the IMF includes massive cuts in
social spending coupled with increased allocations to the Armed Forces.
Its adoption will contribute (virtually overnight) to a further process
of the impoverishment of the Ukraine population.

The speaker of the Rada, Mr. Oleksandr Turchynov confirmed that the
Ukraine Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) and Svoboda (Freedom)
would be invited to propose a candidate to occupy the post of interim
Prime Minister.

So much for democracy: the leader of a Neo-Nazi formation Oleh Tyahnybok (Image right) will play a key role in the appointment of an interim Prime Minister to replace Mr. Yatsenyuk.

Parliamentary elections will only occur if the Rada fails to forge a new coalition government within the next 30 days:

The breakup of the coalition “was probably agreed on by
political parties seeking elections and the president,” Yuriy Yakymenko,
the head of political research at Kiev’s Razumkov Center, a
non-governmental policy group, said by phone.

“Withdrawals from the coalition should not paralyze the parliament’s
work,” Poroshenko said before Yatsenyuk announced his resignation.” (Business Week, July 24, 2014

Yatsenyuk intimated in his resignation speech that the State was
bankrupt and that failure to abide by IMF demands would create social
chaos:

“The fact is that today you failed to vote for the laws, and
I have nothing (with which) to pay wages of policemen, doctors,
teachers; nothing to buy a rifle with, nothing to fuel an armored
personnel carrier with. Today you failed to take a decision to
fill the gas storages to allow us to live through the winter, to at last
free ourselves from dependence on Russian gas,” (Rada, July 24, 2014)

The IMF Program and the Interim Government

In the days following the Ukraine coup d’Etat of February 23, which
led to the ousting of the duly elected president, Wall Street and the
IMF–in liaison with the US Treasury and the European Commission in
Brussels– had already set the stage for the imposition of the IMF’s
“strong economic medicine”.

Following the installation of the interim coalition government, Prime
Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk dismissed the need to even negotiate with the
IMF. He called for an an unconditional acceptance of IMF shock
therapy:

“We have no other choice but to accept the IMF offer”.Yatsenyuk intimated that Ukraine will “accept whatever offer the IMF and the EU made” (voice of russia.com March 21, 2014, emphasis added)

In surrendering to the IMF at the outset of the interim government in
March 2014, Yatsenyuk was fully aware that the proposed IMF-World Bank
macro-economic reforms would brutally impoverish millions of people,
including those who protested in Maidan against the Yanukovitch
government.

The adoption of the more ruthless components of the IMF’s economic
package requiring supportive legislation had been delayed until after
the May 25 elections.

Cracking Down on the Party of Regions and the Communist Party

Meanwhile, the government is cracking down on the Ukraine Communist
Party which is now illegal as well as on the Party of Regions, both of
which were firmly opposed to the IMF policy reforms.

Ukraine as An Ally without NATO Status

In turn, the Ministry of Defense has raised the issue of direct US
military support in the military campaign in Eastern Ukraine, where the
Donbass militia have repealed the forces of the Kiev regime.

“The current situation testifies to clear Russian interference in
Ukraine and its military support to terrorist groups active in Ukraine’s
eastern regions… Right now, Ukraine’s armed forces need international
support more than ever before”, said Deputy Defense Ihor Kabanenko to
David Baldwin, commander of the California National Guard. (Kiev Post, July 24, 2014)

Commander Baldwin was in Kiev for high level consultations with the
Ministry of Defense. In the course of his meetings with DeputyDefense
Minister Ihor Kabanenko, Baldwin announced on behalf of the US
government that:

“The United States of America is considering the possibility of granting Ukraine the status of an ally without membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

… Baldwin said that the American side highly appreciates its
cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and that it is ready to
provide comprehensive support to them.

He stressed that a draft law on prevention of Russian
aggression, adoption of which will allow Ukraine to obtain the status of
an ally of the United States without NATO membership, is currently under consideration by the United States government.

… President Petro Poroshenko has asked the United States Congress to
declare the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Luhansk” and “People’s
Republic of Donetsk” as terrorist organizations and declare their
members as terrorists.Poroshenko believes that when sanctions are not
working, there are grounds for appeal to the United States Congress to
grant Ukraine the special status of a major ally outside NATO (like
Israel, Australia, and the Philippines) to enable it to solve its
security problems. (Ukrainian News, July 24, 2014, emphasis added)

The granting of the “status of ally outside NATO”
would set the stage for the possible deployment of US and NATO forces
inside Ukraine in the context of joint military operations with the
Ukraine Armed Forces and National Guard.

Pilots Heard Ukrainian Air Traffic Control Order MH17 to Change RouteRussia accuses Kiev of tampering with ATC recordings

by Paul Joseph Watson |
July 23, 2014

Pilots on board an Air India Dreamliner which was flying
just 90 seconds behind Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 say they heard
Ukrainian air traffic control give the order for the doomed plane to
change route minutes before MH17 was shot down by a missile.

According to a report in the Times of India,
“Minutes before the crash caused by a missile strike, the AI pilots….
heard the controller give the Malaysian aircraft MH17 what is called “a
direct routing”. This permits an aircraft to fly straight, instead of
tracking the regular route which is generally a zig-zag track that goes
from one ground-based navigation aid or way point to another.”

The AI Dreamliner was less than 25km away from MH17 when it was shot down, a flying distance of just 90 seconds.

Ukraine ATC subsequently asked the Dreamliner pilots to
try and make contact with MH17 when it disappeared from radar, but to no
avail.

India’s civil aviation industry denied that the
Dreamliner was in the region when the incident occurred, although flight
tracking data shows it was in the vicinity.

The news arrives as Russia accused Kiev of tampering
with air traffic control data in order to sway the outcome of the
investigation into what happened to MH17.

“According to reports that emerge, Ukrainian authorities
are conducting certain covert activities involving data storage
equipment and employees of Ukrainian air traffic control services, both
civilian and military, without notifying international organizations,”
spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.

As we reported yesterday,
the question of why Ukrainian authorities have refused to release
transcripts of air traffic control conversations with pilots of the
doomed airliner continues to swirl almost a week after the incident. In
comparison, air traffic control transcripts involving Malaysia Airlines
Flight 370, which went missing in March, were released publicly within 72 hours.

Almost immediately after MH17 was shot down, “Ukraine’s
SBU security service…. confiscated recordings of conversations between
Ukrainian air traffic control officers and the crew of the doomed
airliner,” reported BBC News.

Information obtained from the recordings could determine
the veracity of Russia’s claim that MH17 was being closely followed by
at least one Ukrainian fighter jet in the minutes before its demise.

Questions have abounded as to why flight MH17 pilots
were re-routed to overfly eastern Ukraine when most other major airlines
have avoided the airspace for months. Data shows that MH17′s previous ten flight paths before the shoot down avoided eastern Ukraine entirely.

In another development, Kiev claims that two Ukrainian
fighter jets were shot down today by missiles fired from Russian
territory. In an apparent contradiction to Kiev’s own narrative on MH17,
Ukrainian security spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said
that rebels did not have access to missiles that could reach 17,000
feet, despite the fact that MH17 was flying at an altitude of 33,000
feet when it was shot down.

GuestsRula Jebreal, Palestinian author and political analyst who frequently appears on MSNBC. She worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, where she also covered the Middle East. She is the author of Miral, which was made into a film by Julian Schnabel.

A week after public outrage helped force NBC’s reversal of a decision to
pull veteran reporter Ayman Mohyeldin out of Gaza, the sole Palestinian
contributor to sister network MSNBC has
publicly criticized its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. "We
are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue," Rula Jebreal said
Monday on MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow Daily, citing a disproportionate amount
of Palestinian voices and a preponderance of Israeli government
officials and supporters. Jebreal joins us to discuss her decision to
speak out against MSNBC and her broader
criticism of the corporate media’s Israel-Palestine coverage. An author
and political analyst who worked for many years as a broadcast
journalist in Italy, Jebreal also shares her personal story as a
Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who is married to a Jewish man and
has a Jewish sister.

Amid the confusion surrounding the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17
comes a claim from an Iranian defense expert that could explain why the
airliner was targeted by pro-Russian separatists.

Many have questioned how operators inside the Buk missile TELAR
(transporter erector launcher and radar) could have possibly mistaken
MH17′s radar signal as anything other than a civilian plane, given the
Boeing 777′s altitude and transponder type.

Thus the notion that the missile operators believed they were firing
at a Ukrainian Air Force surveillance plane has been rubbished by
commentators.

Babak Taghvaee, described by The Aviationist as
“very well informed and an extremely reliable source,” believes,
however, that the airliner attracted attention because it was being
escorted over eastern Ukraine by two Su-27 Fighter Jets.

“When the Crimea crisis began, the Ukrainian Air Force air command
center quickly forward deployed six Su-27s to the Kulbakino AB. Since
beginning of the crisis and the Russia intervention, the 831st TAB has
the important task to provide air defense as well as security of whole
country. Six fully armed Flankers have always been in the sky especially
when the other Ukrainian Air Force airplanes such as transporters and
attackers like Fulcrums and Rooks were in the East of Ukraine,” explains
Taghvaee.

Indeed, in the days immediately preceding the shoot down of MH17, an-26 cargo plane and a Su-25 attack jet were downed by surface to air missiles in the same region.

“But when the Su-25M1 was shot down by the Russia Air Force 6969th
AB’s MiG-29 on Jul. 16, the situation and condition became more critical
than previous days and more Su-27 sorties were conducted to confront
Russian MiG-29s.” Taghvaee adds.

“I believe those two Su-27s were not in sky just for standard
practice in that day [Jul. 17], I believe they were involved in HAVCAP
(High Asset Value Combat Air Patrol) mission sortie in that day.” the
aviation expert continues, suggesting that all military and civilian
flights over eastern Ukraine were being escorted by Ukrainian fighter
jets.

“During the UEFA 2012 [football championships], the 831st TAB and its
Flankers had same role, during those competitions they had duty to
escort the airliners in FL330 and other routes in case emergency.”
Taghvaee adds.

“They played same role during the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia.
They were airborne and they even escorted a hijacked airplane. They were
also ready to provide security of all passenger airplanes over Ukraine.
They are now following same procedure and they could protect all of the
airplanes over Ukraine in-front of Russians since Jul 16.”

As the Aviationist report notes, Taghvaee suggests that the
pro-Russian missile operators inside the Buk may have concluded that a
plane shadowed by Ukrainian jets was a high-value Ukrainian Air Force
plane, and therefore a legitimate target.

In addition, Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed that a Ukrainian warplane flew within three miles of the Malaysian airliner before it was downed.

Coupled with the facts that the airliner was diverted into a war zone it needn’t have flew over, and also ordered to fly at a lower altitude,
this new information very much leaves open the possibility that the US
backed Ukrainian military was inviting a Russian attack in order to
exploit it for political ends, or even conducting a false flag attack,
as some have suggested.

“Russian air space control systems detected a Ukrainian Air Force
plane, presumably an SU-25 (fighter jet), scrambling in the direction of
the Malaysian Boeing,” Lieutenant-General Igor Makushev of Russia’s Air
Forces told a news briefing Monday.

Makushev also invited the US to share satellite images that prove US
State Department claims that a Russian sophisticated SA-11 missile
system, transferred to pro-Russian militants was used to down the
airliner.

Meanwhile, former Associated Press reporter Robert Parry has been
told by an intelligence source that the US is in possession of satellite
imagery which could prove that Ukrainian troops were actually responsible for the shoot down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.

—————————————————————-Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com.
He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of
Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree
in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

Whistleblower: U.S. Satellite Images Show Ukrainian Troops Shooting Down MH17

Award winning former Associated Press reporter Robert Parry has been told by an intelligence source that the United States is
in possession of satellite imagery which shows that Ukrainian troops
were responsible for the shoot down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.

In the absence of any proper investigation, media
rhetoric over the last few days has firmly pointed the finger of blame
for the downing of the aircraft on Russian-backed Ukrainian rebels, but Parry’s source tells a different story.

What I’ve been told by one source, who has provided
accurate information on similar matters in the past, is that U.S.
intelligence agencies do have detailed satellite images of the likely
missile battery that launched the fateful missile, but the battery
appears to have been under the control of Ukrainian government troops
dressed in what look like Ukrainian uniforms.

The source said CIA analysts were still not ruling out
the possibility that the troops were actually eastern Ukrainian rebels
in similar uniforms but the initial assessment was that the troops were
Ukrainian soldiers. There also was the suggestion that the soldiers
involved were undisciplined and possibly drunk, since the imagery showed
what looked like beer bottles scattered around the site, the source
said.

Although the establishment press has attempted to deride
any questioning of the official narrative that Ukrainian rebels were
responsible for the incident by invoking the tired “conspiracy theory”
pejorative, Parry can hardly be dismissed as a crank given his key role
in covering the Iran-Contra scandal for the Associated Press and
Newsweek. Indeed, Parry’s investigative work on intelligence matters,
for which he was awarded the George Polk Award, suggests that the
information provided by his source is worthy of serious attention.

U.S. and Ukrainian authorities continue to insist that
Moscow-backed separatists were responsible for the tragedy, asserting
that a BUK missile system was used to bring down the airliner. However,
this was contradicted by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema,
who stated, “The military told the president after the passenger plane
had been shot down that the terrorists did not possess our Buk missile
systems.”

In a related development, audio experts who conducted a
study into the authenticity of a recording released by Ukrainian
authorities which implicated Russian-backed rebels as being responsible
for the missile attack on MH17 concluded that the tape was fabricated.

“The tape’s second fragment consists of three pieces but
was presented as a single audio recording. However, a spectral and time
analysis has showed that the dialog was cut into pieces and then
assembled. Short pauses in the tape are very indicative: the audio file
has preserved time marks which show that the dialog was assembled from
various episodes, the expert said,” reports ITAR-TASS.

About Me

B.S. in Physics, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1960 Ph.D. in Physics, Brown University, 1966. Fellow, American Physical
Society. Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Fellow, American Ceramic Society. Member, Geological Society of America, Research Physicist at Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, DC,
1967-2001. Fulbright-García Robles Fellow at Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México, 1997. Invited Professor of Research at Universités
de Paris-6 & 7, Lyon-1, et St-Etienne (France) and Tokyo Institute
of Technology, 2000-2004. Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and
Engineering, University of Arizona, 2004-2005. Consultancy: impactGlass
research international, 2005-present.
Winner, one national and two international research awards and honored
by Brown University with a "Distinguished Graduate School Alumnus
Award." Author, 198 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books, Principal Author of 114 of these.